fashion-nut’s Neighborhood

There was a perfectly good reason for doing this, and yet it is utter silliness.  I had a lot of fun doing it, and only later realized that I'd left thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment hanging from my ceiling for several hours.

and at least I'm taking some time to notice!  (Pats self on back)

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Do you have any crazy superstitions?

It's bad luck to be superstitious.

When Cath blogged about August being the De-Clutter month, I thought, I could definitely use some decluttering. Maybe not along the exact same lines as the Official De-Clutter Challenge, but creating useful space out of wasted space and clearing out things that are just never going to be of use, that was doable. I started with the kitchen, since Getalife has been complaining about food expiring in the fridge. So the first thing I did was pull out all the food that had either expired or would never be used. Here are the before and after shots:

Everything on the floor was pitched. I couldn't believe how much stuff I had let go bad in our fridge. It was mostly condiments and left-overs, but there was an inordinate amount of potato salad that I had bought for picnics/bbqs that was never eaten. There are 3 things I learned from this exercise:

1) Stick to some staple condiments that are favourites in the house, and only switch it up on request. Things like Mango Cilantro marinade are never going to go over well with this crowd.

2) Never buy potato salad ever again.

3) Take Rachel Ray's advice and try to have "rollover" meals where you plan a second night's meal using the first night's leftovers. I generally think RR is over-hyped and under-talented, but this advice is very practical.

So that was a few nights ago. This morning I tackled just one cupboard - the snack and generally dumping cupboard. This time I timed it, and analysed exactly what was getting pitched, so that I could again learn from my habits that were creating clutter in my cabinets. It took me 33 minutes to pull everything out, figure out what was going to stay and what was getting pitched, separate the pitch stuff into groups that signified why they had to be pitched, put the good stuff back, put the bad stuff in the garbage/recycling/green bin, and somewhere in there I also checked my e-mail once and got the mail from the mailbox. Here are the before and after picks:

 It doesn't look that different, but the space is now infinitely more useable. I also learned some useful lessons through my very non-scientific analysis:

I should be leaping tall buildings by now

So I think all moms have some prenatal vitamins and folic acid kicking around, no? The folic acid was way past its expiry date. The vitamins have not expired, but I found out from torie-torie that one of the B vitamins in my multi-vitamins may have been contributing to my breakouts. I stopped taking them, and the breakouts stopped. I don't want to throw them out, however. Maybe I'll suggest to Getalife that he should consider taking them to counteract his general grumpiness. The calcium and Omegas are still good, so I've moved these to the front where I'll be more likely to see them and take them.

Lesson: keep things visible and easily accessible, if you want to use them on a regular basis. 

Forgotten snacks

These are all baby snacks that ReRe either outgrew or never really took a liking to, and they've now expired. I'm not proud of wasting this food, I should have passed them on to another mom once I knew he was done with them.

Lesson: If there is food that is going to go to waste, try offering it to a friend. People may not want to take opened food from you, but it is worth asking.

unused and forgotten

OK, I remember what happened here. For a little while I was making protein shakes for myself with the whey protein while I was still breastfeeding, but then we were worried about a dairy allergy with ReRe, so I stopped using it, and it expired. The soy protein was purchased after I finished breastfeeding, but since it is so flat and I put it on an upper shelf, I literally forgot I bought it. And it is now expired. Again, not proud.

Lesson: If I ever buy protein powder again, I need to put it in a visible and easily accessible container. And use it!

What the.....

Snacks went from cupboard to container to diaper bag. Were not eaten. Went back into cupboard and were promptly forgotten. Four times. All at least a year ago. I'm so glad I get a good night's sleep these days, cuz this is Crazy, sleep-deprived behaviour. Pitch x 4.

Lesson: Put snacks in the diaper bag. When they are too old to be eaten, pitch them. Skip intervening steps.

Party leftovers. If it is open, it gets pitched, since we haven't entertained for over a month.

Lesson: If there are open, left over party snacks, put them in a smaller bowl on the counter and let the regular grazers finish them off.

so, so wrong

 Now here is my greatest shame: a jar of organic peanut butter that expired 2 years ago. I can't believe I let this happen, but I was likely worried about ReRe having a peanut allergy, and thus did not eat it while it was still good. But since it is unopened, I should have donated it, wasting good food like this is bad, bad karma.

Lesson: if it is unopened and still good, and won't be eaten, for goodness sake, donate it.

Thank goodness, there were actually a few things that are worth keeping. The snacks that haven't expired are the perennial favourites that get purchased, and finished on a regular basis: raisins, dried cranberries, apple sauce, almonds (for me), animal crackers, and Barbara's Bakery Raspberry Fig Bars. Good lord. These are my desert island food. I stopped buying them for a minute when I figured out that I was eating 80% of them, but then ReRe pointed them out at the grocery store and asked to get them, so I obliged. Cuz I'm unselfish like that.

The microwave popcorn stays because, well, maybe one day I'll watch a movie at home again. And not knit.

 I had been looking for my couscous and brown rice. Bingo.

And my Kapa'as coffee from East Timor. Delivered directly by a Timorese former colleague of mine whenever he is in Canada on business. He knows I love this stuff, and he never forgets.

And then 3 random items: a drink box that greenhow left in our suite in Parksville, a can of salmon from my uncle, and Getalife's Saudi cheese. These will all get used at some point, and are all non-perishable, and cannot be donated (the juice box has no straw, and that's like donating muffin bottoms).

And last but not least, a valentine's day treat bag that ReRe brought home from daycare and a hastily hid in the cupboard because of its confectionary content. Now that he's a bit older, I don't mind him having lollipops, except for their highly addictive, insanity-inflicting nature, but perhaps one day he'll need one to cheer him up or something. So the bag and the lollipops went back in. The play-doh will go into craft activity circulation, and I'll eat the NutriGrain bar. It can't be more than, what, 7 months old? My shame at throwing out so much food will make me eat it.   

Mary Lou Retton was a favorite gymnast of mine back in the 80's.  I believe she was the first American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics!  Now, she's 40 years old!!  Hard to imagine, really.  Unfortuantely, she has suffered from hip dysplasia, which is a birth defect, overactive bladder and arthritis.  I can sympathize with her and I'm no gymnast!  She's actually already had a hip replacement!  She also has 4 daughters and loves being a mom.  Here is a video from her gold medal Olympic performance:

This is Mary Lou now at the age of 40:

Your plant is still alive, despite being in my custody!

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